Is it possible to ride my stud??

[HorseLovin' Girl]

I've got a BIG question. My Red bay stud horse who i just got is super sweet and follows me around most places. He doesn't act up when i'm leading him, and doesn't act studsy, although we don't have mares with us and neighbors don't either. I've been told that stallions are aggressive creatures, but I've seen people on this FORUM that ride their stallions. Is there a way that I can train him to let me ride him? His previous owner had put a saddle on him but didn't ride him ( they didn't have the time, thus he came to us ).
He really is calm, he did get spooked the other day when I was grooming him and the soft brush I was using gave him a little static shock. He broke his rope I tied him with, and he walked away. I've been going out to him and grooming him with only the curry comb, and he's fine unless I do his neck, where he walks off. I feel bad, but he still is fine with me petting him with my hands. How can I get him to be fine with the grooming brushes again?
To get him to accept someone riding him, I have heard and are interested in gentling. Has anyone ever heard of it? I don't know how to "break" him, and it seems a little cruel when elders talk about it. Is there another way to let me ride him? Other than gentling or breaking? Any training maybe?
Thank you in advance!

 

[Parrotperson]

Guessing you're not British!

You sound (forgive me) like you doing have much experience with horses. Are you actually using him a a stallion? because if not get him gelded.

Then I would get him to a professional to break him in

At that point it really depends how well you ride as to how its going to turn out. Horses that are just broken in require a lot of training and confidence. If your a complete novice its going to be very tricky for you to ride him

 

[stangs]

There’s many a way to break a horse, but most of these don’t involve ‘breaking’ them mentally. Perhaps you might prefer the term ‘to back’.

If you don’t know how to back a horse, then you really need to find a kind and experienced professional to do it for you, and a trainer to support you with riding a green horse.

 

[Bob notacob]

You so need to find expert advice ,and not necessarily those that profess to be experts. Any stallion worth his oats will react to harsh and aggressive training ,(good on you mate ,kick their heads in) But there are rather more quiet folk out there ,who understand a horse and can work to ,Gentle is a wrong word ,Break is absolutely a wrong word.I would say bring the lad to an understanding with humans.

 

[HorseLovin' Girl]

Well, I can't get a trainer ( You know how much they charge?! ) but I could maybe get him gelded. Are you sure there is no way I can train him on my own? He has not been aggressive, even when his previous owners got him from his other previous abusive owners. Sorry to question, but I gotta ask.

 

[sbloom]

Please find someone experienced to work with, stallions can be amazing but need knowledge and the right touch to handle. If not things can soon go very wrong.

If he is sensitive in his neck, but even if not, he could probably do with seeing a vet or a bodyworker. Have you had horses before? Do you have these kind of contacts?

 

[Nasicus]

Hello everyone! I've had my first horse for a week or so and have TONS of questions! This looked like a very knowledgeable forum, so I decided to join! A little about myself; I am interested in gentling my horse, not breaking; my horse is a 6 year old Red Bay who, said by his previous owners, has been put a saddle on but not ridden. He is a stallion, and I know stallions get quite the rep, but he is SUPER sweet. He has not once lashed out, and is starting to follow me when I walk in the pasture with him. Sorry, i don't need to write my life story with my horse! lol.
Anyway, excited to be here, and I hope someone out there has gentled another horse or even done a join-up with one! Have a great day!

First horse and it's a young unbacked stallion, with no help from an experienced trainer, and they want to back him on their own. I do hope this is a wind up for OP's sake, as I'm very concerned someone is going to get hurt. Having horses isn't at all like the perfect stories portrayed in books and movies, where love and a bond can overcome any obstacle.
OP, please, if this is legitimate, you need to get an experienced trainer involved, regardless of the cost.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I suspect it’s not real, doesn’t sound it to me anyway.

 

[JackFrost]

I suspect it’s not real, doesn’t sound it to me anyway.

In the films, you just get on them, has to be bareback. If they take off, you shout 'Whoa, boy!'. That's all there is to it.

(OP, if you are being serious, I am not)

 

[poiuytrewq]

In the films, you just get on them, has to be bareback. If they take off, you shout 'Whoa, boy!'. That's all there is to it.

(OP, if you are being serious, I am not)

So true, no trainer required.

 

[[153312]]

In the films, you just get on them, has to be bareback. If they take off, you shout 'Whoa, boy!'. That's all there is to it.

(OP, if you are being serious, I am not)

or you do 1 'join up' and stroke its nose then climb aboard and go cantering off tackless into the sunset.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

Oh boy!

 

[Tiddlypom]

Is it school holidays across the pond?

 

[[153312]]

OP.....if you're not trolling, and you seriously, genuinely want to ride this horse, get him gelded first of all, and checked over by a vet. Then move to a barn used to dealing with stallions, where you can have experienced people on hand to help you on the ground. DON'T try and back him yourself if he is your first horse, hire someone to help you.
The user base here is predominantly in the UK with a few members in Europe, so you might find it easier to find recommendations on chrono of the horse forum, which is much more US based.
Alternatively, if you just want to ride, sell this horse and put the money towards lessons, then a few years down the line you can buy your own beginner friendly mount, more suited as a first horse than a green entire....

 

[[153312]]

Tiddlypom, a quick google has suggested USA spring break is mostly towards the end of March, dunno how accurate that is?

God, I really hope this is a troll though.

 

[ycbm]

I'm sure I remember an almost identical thread 2 ish years back, but I can't find it. The title is what triggered the memory, as I opened that one and this fully expecting it to degrade quickly into sexual innuendo.
.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

The title is what triggered the memory, as I opened that one and this fully expecting it to degrade quickly into sexual innuendo.
.

Good grief, surely not!

 

[sbloom]

Things are very different in the US with regard to back yard breeders, people having stallions (and yes, they're often called studs) in very unsuitable environments. There was a woman who ran FB page/website/forum a while back on backyard breeders, appalling horse rescue "charities" that showed this in all its gory detail, and one of the NH guys also made a series of films IIRC showing his work in the US. There was one woman who had about 20 stallions who were all out of hand and most needing rehoming, but the worst was one that she had raised by hand. This horse still came into the house and after some initial work done with him, the NH trainer's number two was roundpenning him he turned his back for a split second and the horse attacked him, splitting his head open. It's another world.

 

[TPO]

Things are very different in the US with regard to back yard breeders, people having stallions (and yes, they're often called studs) in very unsuitable environments. There was a woman who ran FB page/website/forum a while back on backyard breeders, appalling horse rescue "charities" that showed this in all its gory detail, and one of the NH guys also made a series of films IIRC showing his work in the US. There was one woman who had about 20 stallions who were all out of hand and most needing rehoming, but the worst was one that she had raised by hand. This horse still came into the house and after some initial work done with him, the NH trainer's number two was roundpenning him he turned his back for a split second and the horse attacked him, splitting his head open. It's another world.

Fully Horse of The Day blog? It was an eye opener back in the day.

The other scenario is from the Buck film about Buck Brannaman and I think the pally attack is on YouTube. Terrifying but even still the woman wouldn't be told.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

Fully Horse of The Day blog? It was an eye opener back in the day.

The other scenario is from the Buck film about Buck Brannaman and I think the pally attack is on YouTube. Terrifying but even still the woman wouldn't be told.

this one? Think she said the horse was oxygen deproved at birth or something too.. I would imagine the hand rearing was more to blame

 

[sbloom]

Fully Horse of The Day blog? It was an eye opener back in the day.

The other scenario is from the Buck film about Buck Brannaman and I think the pally attack is on YouTube. Terrifying but even still the woman wouldn't be told.

this one? Think she said the horse was oxygen deproved at birth or something too.. I would imagine the hand rearing was more to blame

Yep to both

 

[jkitten]

OP please don't start this process on your own. He is very likely gentle with you on the ground because he was well handled and socialised by experienced folk as a youngster, so he knows what to expect around humans and how to behave. Being ridden will be an entirely new experience for him with an entirely new set of rules he has to follow (everything from taking the bit to not bucking off his rider because he's feeling frisky to understanding riding aids), he will need a lot of 'hand-holding' to bring him through the process safely and sanely. One small mistake on the part of the trainer can damage him in a way it might take years to undo. Also, no matter how sweet-natured he is, he's still a huge animal many times stronger than you, and could seriously injure you or worse even without meaning to if he's in a panic about something and you don't know how to manage it.

 

[TPO]

**spoiler alert** the eejit did not get him put down. She took him home to try again...

I've only ever had contact with one hand reared orphan (he was 7 or 8yrs when I met him) and jeez was he a handful. He had been raised properly by experienced people who treated him as a horse but the difference in not having an equine parent was immense.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Oh my god! That clip. ?
Just awful, really made me jump when it did that.

 

[Mrs. Jingle]

Many years back someone I knew hand reared a foal when it's Mum died a few days after birth. She treated that foal like it was her own child, almost literally. It wasn't even a colt but it was just as obnoxious and dangerous as the one shown in the video. I understand it was eventually put down at about 4 years of age as it had become so dangerous, her vet advised PTS after many different routes had been tried without success. So sad for the poor horse, as always not it's fault but entirely the fault of the person who had babied and hand reared it without setting any boundaries at all because it was so 'cute'

 

[Starzaan]

Every horse I’ve known that was hand reared was downright dangerous.

 

[JackFrost]

Every horse I’ve known that was hand reared was downright dangerous.

Agree, though I think we are going off topic as this horse wasn't hand reared. I like to think that OP is genuine and she sounds like she has a good heart and really wants to learn. It is important to get the right first horse.

At my first attempt to get a horse, I was a novice with no horsey connections to help me find the right one. So I went to see a hand reared unbroken 4 year old Sec D chesnut mare, as a friend had assured me it was a nice horse. When I met it, it was 'in' a stable, but the door had been left open as periodically it would crash in and out neighing and snorting. If anyone had been standing in the way, it would have ploughed straight through them. I knew very little about horses then, but I did have some common sense, and I decided that it probably wasn't the right one for me. I have learnt a lot since, from suitable horses.

.

 

[[153312]]

**spoiler alert** the eejit did not get him put down. She took him home to try again...

I've only ever had contact with one hand reared orphan (he was 7 or 8yrs when I met him) and jeez was he a handful. He had been raised properly by experienced people who treated him as a horse but the difference in not having an equine parent was immense.

oh my god, do you know what happened after she took it home? I can't help but imagine the worst.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

oh my god, do you know what happened after she took it home? I can't help but imagine the worst.

I would imagine she either had him dispatched or stallion dispatched her in one way or another

 

[[153312]]

I would imagine she either had him dispatched or stallion dispatched her in one way or another

I was wondering which...